What term describes the blood relationship of the heirs to the decedent?

• A. Degree of consanguinity
• B. Escheat
• C. Dower
• D. Renunciation

Answer: (A)

Degree of consanguinity is the measure of how closely heirs are related by blood to the person who died. It classifies potential heirs by closeness of blood, which helps determine who has inheritance rights under intestacy and how shares are allotted among surviving kin. Closer blood relationships (like children and parents) are considered before more distant ones (like cousins), guiding who may inherit when there isn’t a will. Escheat, by contrast, refers to property passing to the state when there are no heirs; dower concerns a widow’s rights to a portion of her deceased spouse’s estate; renunciation is an heir formally declining an inheritance.